by Anna Jacobs
‘I wouldn’t like to be kissed by one of the men after this meal,’ Rosie whispered to Georgie.
‘Would you like it otherwise?’ Georgie saw her blush and added, ‘By Dennis, perhaps?’
The blush deepened. ‘Don’t be silly. I’ve only just met him.’
She didn’t press the point. She’d only just met Patrick and that didn’t stop her liking him in that special way and wanting him to kiss her.
Rosie stepped back and looked round the large pantry. ‘Not much to show for our outing, is there? What must this place have looked like with all its shelves filled?’
‘Like my father’s pantry in London. Well, let’s put some food together for our lu—I mean dinner.’ Georgie was trying to remember to use the same words for the various meals that her companions would: ‘dinner’ at noon and ‘tea’ at the end of the afternoon.
She saw by Patrick’s quick grin that he’d understood her near slip but she didn’t want to embarrass people who were trying to keep her safe, so she just elevated her chin as if to challenge him.
He gave her another of his quick winks and she couldn’t help smiling back before turning to deal with the food. Why did one man make you feel warm inside and others not affect you at all in that way?
Once they’d eaten, it was a question of waiting for Tez to report on his conversation with his mother. His idea of hiding at Honeyfield House seemed by far their best option. They didn’t want to start any more major jobs on this house until they found out what they were going to be doing, so they tidied up the kitchen and went up to the bedrooms to bring down their few possessions, ready to leave.
After that was done, they gathered again in the kitchen to chat about this and that. Georgie felt at ease with them. Such decent people and they seemed more relaxed with her now. At first they’d stumbled over whether to call her Miss Cotterell or use her first name as Patrick did; now they were on first-name terms.
After a while he pulled out his battered pocket watch in response to Dennis asking what time it was. ‘Ten past two.’ It was awkward in a house with no clocks on the mantelpiece. He was the only man with a pocket watch, while Georgie had a neat little fob watch.
Dennis fidgeted around. ‘We could get on with a few jobs.’
Patrick shook his head decisively. ‘No. I know there’s a lot we could do to clear up the house, but we won’t be able to leave suddenly if we’re covered in whitewash, or dust and cobwebs.’
‘I suppose not. I don’t like sitting idle, and this place still smells of whitewash. I hope Mr Tesworth comes round soon to let us know what’s been arranged.’
‘I’ll just get the newspaper we picked up at the shops. We can share the pages out, if you like, and see what’s happening in the world.’ Georgie had been intending to read it later but it’d fill the time nicely if Tez was late. Without waiting for anyone to go with her, she slipped into the sitting room to find it.
When she glanced out of the window, she saw her friend Bella coming across the winter-bare garden between the houses, carrying a basket and holding up an umbrella because it was raining again. Without thinking, she hurried to unlock the front door and let the visitor in, worried something might be wrong.
‘Cheer up, love!’ her friend said at once. ‘Everything’s all right. If you get the others together, I’ll only have to tell my story once.’
‘Good afternoon, Mrs Tesworth!’ Patrick called from the back of the hall. ‘We finished whitewashing the kitchen, pantry and laundry this morning, so you won’t want to sit in the back. Why don’t we bring the kitchen chairs into the front room? I was just going to do that, anyway. A bit of dust is easier to bear than the smell of whitewash.’
He locked the front door again and disappeared into the back part of the house with a frown in Georgie’s direction. What had she done wrong now? she wondered as she followed Bella into the sitting room.
Patrick brought in two kitchen chairs, set them down and gestured to Bella to take one, but grabbed Georgie’s arm and stopped her taking the other chair. ‘Just need a quick word with her,’ he said cheerfully to their guest and tugged Georgie back into the hall.
‘What the hell were you thinking of, opening the front door on your own?’
‘I’d seen Bella coming so I knew it was safe.’
‘You can never be totally sure it’s safe. Two women and one of them expecting! Someone much stronger than you two might have been lurking round the corner of the house and could easily have knocked her out of the way and grabbed you. You agreed not to open any of the doors without one of us nearby.’
‘You didn’t worry when I left the kitchen. She’d have got wet if I’d left her standing outside. It was raining.’
‘Damn the rain. It’s your life I’m thinking of. And you should have locked the door again straight away.’
She felt hurt by his rough tone and it must have shown in her face because his expression softened.
‘I’m sorry, but you must learn to take every detail of this situation seriously. It’s life or death, Georgie – and I shouldn’t say this to you, have no right, but I can’t bear to think of anything happening to you.’
Her anger faded at once. ‘I’m the one who should be apologising again. I’m just not used to thinking in that way.’
He pulled her to him for a quick kiss, then they heard the others coming back and separated hastily, she to join Bella, he to check that the others had brought enough chairs through.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Once everyone was settled in the otherwise bare sitting room, Bella began her explanation.
‘Tez sent me round so that it’d look like a woman calling on a neighbour. He’s arranging for you all to stay at Honeyfield House. He’s going to nip round there the back way when I get home to make sure they’re expecting you.’
Patrick’s expression was now so grimly attentive he was like a figure carved in granite. My goodness, Georgie thought, that man can certainly concentrate hard. He looked very much in charge at such times, someone you’d turn to instinctively and know you could trust. Which she did, with both head and heart. She continued to listen to Bella, but couldn’t prevent her eyes from straying to Patrick occasionally.
‘Tez wants you to slip out of this house one by one as soon as it gets dark. If you go the back way, you can bend low and go right to your back fence without being seen from the street. Then you can edge along the fence behind the bushes till you get into our garden. It’s a good thing the side fence has mostly fallen down, isn’t it?’
She looked round as if checking that they were listening. ‘Don’t come to our house. Make your way across the back of the garden till you get to the summer house. Tez will leave the door of it unlocked and he’ll be waiting for you inside. Then he can let you out via its other door, which leads through the garden wall into the orchard.’
‘Georgie mustn’t go across a dark garden on her own,’ Patrick said at once. ‘That’s asking for trouble.’
‘Tez wondered if she could dress as a man, then even if they catch sight of her, they won’t realise who it is.’ Bella looked at her friend. ‘I have some clothes in my basket that ought to fit you. They’re mine. I used to wear trousers when I was working as a VAD ambulance driver.’
‘I have my own trousers with me, thanks,’ Georgie said. ‘But I don’t have a proper top and jacket.’
‘Even wearing trousers, she’s not going anywhere on her own.’ Patrick stood for a moment, so visibly concentrating that no one spoke until he offered an alternative suggestion.
‘I think we should go in two groups, so that only one of us will be on their own, and even then he’ll be within earshot if he hears a call for help. Dennis, will you do that solo job?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Good. If you go out first with Rosie and Martin, you can wait with your back against the fence and keep watch while they go across to the summer house. Yell for help if there’s trouble. We’ll hear you and come running. Right?
’
‘Fine by me.’
‘If everything goes smoothly, I’ll bring Georgie out five minutes after you, then all three of us will cross the final stretch together and join the others in the summer house.’
People were quiet for a moment or two as they took this in, then one by one they murmured agreement.
‘What about the car?’ Martin asked.
‘I’ve been wondering what to do. Is this Leatherby chap to be trusted, do you think, Bella? If so, I can take it to that little workshop of his near the edge of town when we’ve finished here. I’ll claim it’s not running smoothly and needs looking at.’
She nodded. ‘Malcolm’s a decent chap. He’s lived all his life in Honeyfield and is well liked. I’m sure you can trust him.’
‘Well then, perhaps I’ll explain that what I really want is for him to keep the car safe for us till we need it again. He and I can disable the engine so no one can drive it away. When that’s sorted out, I can hurry back here on foot. That’s the good thing about a small village. Nothing’s far away.’
‘It’d be safer for you to call at Gregory’s house as you go and take him and his dog with you for protection,’ Georgie objected. ‘You keep saying we shouldn’t go anywhere on our own, and you shouldn’t do that, either. We all rely on you to organise things.’
There was another of those murmurs of agreement.
‘All right. I’ll try not to let you down. Anything else we should think about?’
Rosie signalled that she wanted to speak. ‘How about we leave a couple of the rooms here with candles alight in them when we set off tonight? If we use candle stubs, they’ll burn down and go out, then it’ll look from outside as if we’ve blown them out for the night. The front room downstairs and one of the bedrooms, maybe?’
‘Good idea. We’ll only put them in rooms that have proper curtains, though, so that no one can see there’s no one here.’
As he looked away, Rosie cleared her throat to get his attention back. ‘There’s another thing: Mrs Tesworth could take some of the spare food back with her in the basket now and we could carry the rest if there’s anything left from our tea. I can’t bear to think of good food going to waste.’
‘Another excellent idea, Rosie. You’re good at details. Only I don’t think we should carry any leftovers with us, in case we need our hands free. I’ll tell Gregory to pick it up tomorrow.’ Patrick turned to their visitor. ‘Is that all right with you, Mrs Tesworth?’
‘Yes.’ Bella took a pile of clothes out of her basket. ‘Here you are, Georgie. Leave anything you don’t need here. If you’ll put the food in the basket, Rosie, I’ll get off home. I don’t want to appear unfriendly, but Tez said I shouldn’t stay too long.’
Patrick turned to Rosie. ‘Could you sort out the food we won’t need?’
‘I’ve already worked out in my mind what to leave for our tea.’ She packed as much of the rest as she could into the basket. ‘It’s a bit heavy and some of it’s bulky, so I think we’ll have to leave one loaf behind. Will you be all right carrying this, Mrs Tesworth?’
Bella hefted the basket in her hands. ‘Yes. I’m not a weakling and it isn’t far. I shall—’
There was a knock on the front door and everyone froze.
Patrick stood up. ‘I’ll answer that.’
‘Just a minute. I can peep out.’ Georgie didn’t wait for him to agree to that, but got up and pressed herself against the edge of the bay window, hidden, she hoped, by the edge of the heavy curtain.
‘He looks vaguely familiar but I can’t quite place him. He’s got a cap on pulled low and it’s hard to see his face clearly.’
‘Let me.’ Bella took her place at the window. ‘Talk of the devil. It’s Malcolm Leatherby.’
‘What on earth can he want?’ Patrick wondered aloud.
‘Let me answer the door,’ Bella said. ‘Malcolm knows me.’
‘I’ll be close by,’ Patrick said at once. ‘Stay inside the entrance, Mrs Tesworth. Don’t go out on the doorstep till someone’s with you.’
They heard the front door open and the murmur of voices, then the door closed and Bella brought Malcolm into the sitting room, followed by Patrick, who remained standing by the door, as if on guard.
‘I’d better stay to see if there’s anything else to think about. Tez will want to know.’ Bella turned to their visitor. ‘You said you wanted to see the people staying here, Malcolm. Tell us why.’
He took a moment to study them all before he spoke again. ‘Cole knocked me up in the middle of the night and asked me to watch out for strangers. He said to let you people know if I saw anyone hanging round the village as had no business here. He said there are some villains after Miss Cotterell an’ they might hurt her. Can’t have that. We all look after one another in Honeyfield, see.’
The visitor had everyone’s full attention but he stopped his narrative to ask, ‘Could I ask who’s in charge here, Mrs Tesworth?’
‘Mr Farrell.’ Bella pointed to Patrick.
‘Thanks for coming, Mr Leatherby,’ he said at once. ‘We’re grateful. Tell us exactly what you saw, every detail.’
‘Well, sir, people who’re driving past the village on the main road sometimes stop at my workshop to buy cans of motor spirit. There’s some as ask for petrol, but my sign says motor spirit an’ that’s what I call it. Brings in good steady money these days, that does.’
He paused and Patrick nodded encouragement to go on.
‘You see all sorts driving about the country, so I’d ha’ thought nothing of what happened today, only for Cole knocking me up last night. Eh, I wondered what were going on when tapping at the window woke me up.’
He paused again and Bella gave a little shake of her head as if to warn everyone to be patient with his long-winded explanations.
‘There was a car stopped by my workshop mid-morning today. Three fellows, but only two got out. They bought four cans of motor spirit. Four! I don’t often sell that many to one person, I can tell you. It was a big car and it must use more than most, but still, four cans is a lot to buy at once.’
‘Go on,’ Patrick urged, almost twitching with impatience.
‘Strange, I thought. Perhaps they’re going on a long journey.’ He nodded once or twice to emphasise this. ‘Only they hung about afore they paid, asking me about the village, who were the important people and such questions. I didn’t like the looks of them even though I was glad of their money, so I played dumb and told ’em the curate was the most important person, him an’ the baker.’
‘What did they say to that?’
‘One of them asked if there were any gentry living in big houses. I remember his words clearly, because he talked all la-di-dah, for all he were roughly dressed.’
‘Baker and butcher have the biggest houses in the village, sir, says I. They looked at me like I was daft, so I acted dafter still and started talking about the grocer as well and how good the ham is there. That’s when the one who’d stayed in the back of the car called out to hurry up. An’ he had a posh voice, too. So they strapped the last can of motor spirit on the luggage rack, paid me and left.’
‘And you’d never seen these men round here before?’
‘No, never. I’m good at faces, better at faces than names these days, and I’d have remembered ’em because one chap had an old scar on his cheek – big straight one, it was right down the middle of his cheek.’ He demonstrated with the side of his hand on his own cheek.
‘Ah.’ Patrick looked at the others. ‘I’ve seen scars like that on some German officers. Duelling scars, they are, my captain told me. Not from war, but from playing at duels.’
‘I don’t know how he got the scar but I’d recognise those fellows if I saw them again, oh yes. I’ve been treated like an idiot before just because I live in a village and it fair gets me mad, it does. I may be old and I ent as strong as I was, I will admit, but I’ve still got enough wits left to make a good living, yes, and to save enough to see me and
my wife through our old age.’
He ran out of steam and looked back at Patrick expectantly, head on one side. ‘Was I right to come and tell you, sir?’
‘Yes. Very right, indeed, and we’re grateful. Now, I wonder if you can do me a further favour? I’m going to bring my car round to your workshop just before teatime and pretend it’s not working properly. You could say you’re repairing it for me if anyone asks.’
‘Won’t matter if folk in the village know I’m just looking after it, ent no one will tell them strangers.’
‘But the strangers might come back, see it and ask. They’d recognise it as mine.’
‘All right.’
‘So if I disable the motor after I bring it to you, can you keep the car safe for me till we need it again, Mr Leatherby?’
Again, their visitor looked at Bella, who nodded as if to say this was all right. ‘Yes, a-course I can do that.’
‘I’ll make it worth your while,’ Patrick added.
He brightened. ‘Thank you, sir.’
‘You can say you have to send for a new part, in case people wonder why the car’s been left there.’
The old man grinned. ‘Ah. I can do that.’ He tapped the side of his forehead. ‘I’m good with engines so I can even tell folk it’s the distributor an’ I’ll take it out for you, too.’
‘I’m sure you’re a very capable mechanic. You sound knowledgeable.’
‘Thank ’ee. I’ll say one thing afore I go, since you’re all outsiders: if there’s someone planning mischief, it ent one of us. No one in Honeyfield is a traitor. There’s some as go poaching, there’s some as drink too much, an’ there’s some as is a bit sharp to drive a bargain, but there ent no damned traitors here.’
‘I’m sure not. And who would know better than you?’
The old man nodded calmly, accepting this as his due. ‘Ah. Lived here man and boy, I have, know all the families. I better go now, in case there are any other people wanting to buy motor spirit. My wife can’t serve them these days. Poor old lass has rheumatics bad an’ can’t hardly walk.’